Desert Fire by Shannon Van Roekel

On assignment in Darfur, Sudan, journalist Julia Keegan seeks to document the unimaginable atrocities, open the eyes of average Americans . . . and distance herself from the shadow cast by her convicted murderer father. She has steeled herself against the horrors of genocide---but is she prepared to face the dangers of forgiveness and love?

My thoughts:

This was a fascinating book, and a real eye-opener. The main character, Julia Keegan, goes to Darfur, Sudan to write about the atrocities being committed there against women and children. Though the story is fictional, the author gives a very realistic portrayal of what went on in real life there.

Added to the story is a young lawyer seeking Julia out to pass on a letter from her criminal father. There is some of the romantic element in the story, but overall, the reader is not just entertained, but is left with a horrifying realization of what happened in Darfur, and a thankfulness for what we have here in America.

I recommend the book, but it isn't for someone wanting a light, romantic read. You can read the first chapter here at the author's website: Shannon Van Roekel.

The book is available from Kregal Publishing. Thank-you Leslie for the review copy.

The threat, and the difference

I don't know about everyone else out there, but this Muslim situation worries me. I firmly believe that Barrack Obama is either a Muslim himself, or at the very least is very pro-Muslim. I don't think any Christian in their right mind can look at his behavior toward the Muslims lately and deny at least the latter. This same president refused to take part in the National Day of Prayer, yet helped the Muslim's day of honor at the Capitol.

I have to admit some confusion as to why Islam seems so much more accepted by the liberals, than Christianity. One of the biggest liberal causes is the gay agenda. Christians say it is wrong, and you cannot go to Heaven while engaging in that lifestyle. Muslims say it is wrong and kill people who identify as gay - so doesn't it make sense that the liberals would say Islam is bad? Not to mention their attitude towards women.

Speaking of homosexuality, I learned something interesting about Islam this week: They do condemn and punish homosexuality severely, but they have no problem with an adult male using a young boy sexually - they do not view that as homosexuality. Yeah, what a wonderful religion.

I read a lot of news stories on line, and time and time again I read stories where Muslims are given special rights. Most recently, a young man who is military bound submitted a picture of him in his military uniform, including a hat. He was told his photo was not allowed because of the military hat - yet a female student was allowed her hijab. A factory did away with Labor Day as a day off, yet allowed their Muslim workers a day off for their holiday. A female doctor at a clinic was told she could not wear her hijab because it violated their no-head gear rule. A few days later, they apologized to her and allowed her to wear it.

We want religious freedom, and do not want to be discriminated against, but it seems Muslims get more rights in this area than Christians. People bend over backwards to avoid offending them, and is it no wonder - they fear the Muslims.

I'm worried about our country. My dad has an idea that in the last days, the false prophet who takes control could be Islam - and he could be correct - who knows. I do not believe all of the Muslims who have attacked our country are the exception to the rule, and are extremists. I believe the religion fully encourages heretics to be killed and punished.

What can we do? For one thing, Christians need to get out and vote, and vote responsibly. Don't vote for the liberals who are pro-gay, pro-abortion, pro-Muslim - vote for the conservatives who are against those things.

If the Muslims keep on expanding and growing, and get places in our government, the day could very well come that this nation becomes a Muslim nation, and we have to choose to become a Muslim, or die. Scary thought, but it could happen.

Just recently in Great Britain, a Muslim woman got in an argument with a husband and wife who ran the store she came into. The argument was over whether Jesus is the Son of God or not. The couple has been jailed and could face imprisonment - and have lost a lot of business - why? Because they dared argue with a Muslim.

Imax is coming out with a movie about Mohammed, entitled Messenger of Peace. If you watch movies, boycott it. We need to wake up to this threat that is living among us.

I won a book several weeks ago entitled Mohamed's Moon. It is the fictional story of twin boys, separated at birth. One is raised as a Muslim who hates America and is out to destroy it, and the other is raised in a Christian home. Though fiction, the book had a fascinating portrayal of Islam. One of the biggest differences that stood out to me in the book between Islam and Christianity is a simple difference, but is as different as light and day. Islam says to destroy your enemy, and any one who will not convert to Islam. Christianity says to love your enemy, and do good to those who do you wrong. Quite the major difference.

The Disconnected Church

It's bad when your friends tell you that they miss your regular blogging, and refer to it as "rants". :-) I have not been blogging - or in their words "ranting" much lately due to not being in the right mood for it, but most likely due to people's prayers, though the circumstances have not changed, I have been feeling more positive the last couple of days. Thanks to anyone who is praying for me - I appreciate it, and also thanks for the comments - I didn't publish them since they were intended for me, but they were appreciated.

In the blog post that brought those comments on, I mentioned that I have been feeling disconnected from my church since I moved back into the area sixteen months ago. I got an email from someone from my church saying they sometimes feel disconnected, and last night while talking to someone from church found out that he also feels disconnected.

I don't think people should feel disconnected. Times are tough and may get tougher. We need each other. I don't think it is enough to go in and worship with people of like-minded faith, though we need that - but we need more.

While I was living in Indiana, my church went a different direction with the youth. They used to have a combined service for the teenagers up through age forty before the evening worship service. For a while they also had been having activities outside of the church. One month they would have volleyball and pizza for the teens and early twenties crowd. The next month, they would do something similar for the married couples and singles that were older than that - like my age.

People in the church felt they need to focus more on the teens - said that we are losing them, and seemed to blame the church. I agree we need to do something, but I believe the blame lies with parents - but that is beside the point. Anyway, now they have something for the adults in the sanctuary, and the teens and early twenties crowd meet downstairs, and have some kind of activity outside of the church monthly. What is done for everyone else in the church? Zip. Zoink. Nada. Nothing.

Now I am honestly not bitter, though I do weary of hearing so much about the youth focus, when I feel the church is overlooking everyone else, especially singles that are too old for the youth focus. I actually made the statement to my parents soon after I moved back that it seems all our church cares about is the youth focus. More recently, I said if the rapture happened during a youth focus, they would want God to hold off until they were done. :-)

I go to a very conservative church, and there are people afraid of going too far with social activities, and yes, I think some churches do get carried away with that, but we Christians need fellowship and fun with other Christians.

Do I have any ideas to change things? Of course I do - glad you asked! First off, I think the extra services that we have at 6:15 should be moved to Wednesday evening, and start Sunday evening worship earlier. Give people more time to fellowship after church.

Nothing against anyone who has the Wednesday evening service, but it is pretty much a "mini" Sunday evening service, except we pray more, and testimonies are encouraged more. We sing, testifiy, pray, and someone speaks.

I think we should split up. Youth go do what they do on Sunday nights. The kids go do what they do Sunday nights. Everyone else have a genuine Bible study - not where someone just speaks and everyone else sits there - no, some kind of study where there is particpitation - even some workbooks or worksheets for people to answer questions. Oh yes, and maybe the singles of the church could have something at least once a month.

And some kind of potluck thing outside of the church would be great also.

I have mentioned my ideas to my family, and they shot it down. They said it would never fly because so many people don't come on Wednesday evening. That the church would never move the youth focus to Wednesday night because no one would come - my reply - well they would come if they wanted to be in it bad enough!

I really do think we need to change some things - probably not just my church, but a lot of churches - we need more community. More fellowship. I believe God wants us in church to worship Him, but also for fellowship. And really what kind of fellowship is it if everyone just talks to a few certain people after church, and/or flee like they are running a marathon. I don't see much fellowship there.

The church I attended in Indiana wasn't much different, though they did a couple of things I enjoyed. They have a Thanksgiving banquet for the whole church, served in the school's student activity building. At Christmas, the adult Sunday School classes have a Christmas banquet at a nearby restaurant, complete with someone coming to sing/minister. I liked that. And I miss that, now that I have moved back to Ohio.

Well, thus ends my first "rant" for some time. You who said you missed my rants, let me know what you think. :-)

God Sightings

People are suggesting that they want more of God and less of the stuff that gets between them and their relationship with God. A recent Barna study revealed that 75% of Christians polled say they sense that “God is motivating people to stay [spiritually] connected but in different ways and through different types of experiences than in the past.”


Group Publishing and Tyndale House Publishers have heeded that call and joined together to provide a unique interactive Bible reading experience called God SightingsTM where people can experience God in a refreshing and non-traditional way. For the first time ever, the complete tools needed to make the pages of Scripture come alive and see God manifested in everyday life and events are now available. By reading God Sightings: The One Year Bible and God Sightings: The One Year Companion Guide, whether in book form or online, users will become participants in something so profoundly simple and powerful that it changes their lives. Through the first-of-its-kind free website, www.MyGodSightings.com, users will encounter something that is already out there but is often missed: God’s expressed love in the lives and circumstances of others. Materials for God Sightings are available for individuals to use alone, with groups, as a church-wide campaign or even in online communities.

By using the God Sightings website, groups or individuals can publicly or privately share their thoughts about Scripture and captured “God Sightings” with other people anywhere in the world at any time. The private online community also offers a unique opportunity for groups or families separated by distance or time to look for God together. It is ideal for military spouses separated by war, parents whose children are in college in another city or distant friends who want to stay in touch. It’s a chance to witness and share God’s presence even when separated by hundreds or thousands of miles.

The God Sightings products include The One Year Bible (New Living Translation

or New International Version ), The One Year Companion Guide, The One Year Small Group Leader Guide, and The One Year Launch Kit for Pastors and Ministry Leaders. When used, these beautiful and inviting books along with the easy to access website will provide a renewed faith and passion for the Word. The One Year Bible, today’s #1 selling annual reading Bible, leads people to experience God on a daily basis. And when paired with The One Year Companion Guide, they will begin to see God’s magnificent presence reaching out to change their lives in ways that will startle awe and excite them as never before.

My thoughts:

I received the God Sightings Companion Guide, and the God Sightings One Year Bible to review. The Bible is basically the One Year Bible, with a new cover, and has the God Sightings insignia on each day's reading. I am familiar with the One Year Bible, and recommend it if you have never checked it out. It has daily readings from different Scripture portions. This is not a Bible that goes from Genesis to Revelation - it is geared for a daily Bible reading to read the Bible through in one year.

The Companion Guide: Since this is for a year, I obviously didn't go through the whole book, but I have looked through it, and think they have a really good idea here. It is set up for 52 weeks, and each week gives you something to watch for, and reflection questions. Example for week one:

This week watch for beginnings. For new life, fresh starts, clean slates. You'll see them everywhere. And each beginning is an echo of God's creative work in the world - a God sighting.

God is a big fan of beginnings. he created a sprawling universe - a hotbed of beginnings - and then kept rolling. Kept crafting new starts and a new life... including yours.

So keep track of new beginnings this week. See them....celebrate them....jot a list here in your journal. Catch God at work.

Reflection questions:

1) If God is speaking to you, how would you describe God's voice? Why do you think God sounds that way to you?

2) How have you seen God work in other ways this week?

3) What are you waiting to hear from God about right now? Imagine waking up tomorrow morning to find that God had miraculously solved your problem. What do you think God's solution would be?

Each week has something different to watch for, a God sighting, and a few reflection questions. I can see where a tool like this would be very helpful to Christians.

Check out the available products and download a sample at http://www.blogger.com/www.MyGodSightings.com.

Thanks to Audra from B&B media group for the review copies, which I received in return for posting my review.

My friends at B&B Media asked me if I would post this, and since they are so great to work with and send me books to review, I'm happy to help them out - so check out the new Jesus movie:

The Jesus Movie for

the Next Generation

www.NewJesusMovie.com

Guest post by Bruce Marchiano, producer of Jesus...No Greater Love

The truth of the gospel never changes. But Christianity has many faces. They reflect the customs and cultures and the beautiful diversity of the global church. They are lined with the wisdom of age and vibrant with the passion of youth. One gospel for all the world…but how will we deliver it in a way that reaches the whole world? How will we reach the next generation?



Young Christians today are more like St. Francis of Assisi than a circuit riding preacher. “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words.” This is a generation focused on being the hands and feet of Christ and meeting the physical needs of those in both the local and global community. They are building houses, planting gardens, taking food and clothes to the poor and helping the widows and orphans… and then they are sharing the gospel. And they are using technology like never before. They communicate the message through audio, film, video and the internet, and they strive for excellence within those mediums. They must. This is how they will reach their generation for Christ.



I share their passion. In the film, The Gospel According to Matthew, we were able to capture the heart of Christ that is so often missing in Christian films, but the quality of the film making was constrained by an $800,000 budget. Now we are inspiring a movement that will bring Jesus to film in a version that literally leaps off the screen and into the hearts of viewers.

Jesus…No Greater Love, the new Jesus movie, (http://www.newjesusmovie.com/) will be a word for word, verse by verse film adaption of the Gospel according to John. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. That’s really our concept, that the gospel would go out in the power of the film medium, unaltered by any human script writer.



The budget for a typical Hollywood production is $100-110 million. Actors’ salaries account for much of that cost. Because the new Jesus movie will be not be paying big name actors, our team believes we can produce a world class, state-of-the-art film incorporating the latest cutting-edge technology for just $45 million. The production will be shot on location in Jerusalem and shot digitally using CGI backgrounds and a green screen stage, providing unlimited potential for sharing the gospel for generations to come.



We are inviting people from all nations and all generations to join this movement to bring the gospel to all people. A movement made of 4.5 million people contributing a tax deductible donation of $10 each would fund the cost of the film. The Gospel belongs to everyone, and the new Jesus movie will be produced expressly so it can be accessed by everyone, no matter their financial situation. Our team's vision is to see the film translated into as many languages as possible and supplied to mission organizations and churches all over the world.



You can become a part of the movement to reach the next generation. Please help us spread the word to your friends and family. If you would like to make a donation, you can do so at http://www.newjesusmovie.com./

Also, you can keep up with our progress by visiting any of these links:

www.facebook.com/newjesusmovie

www.twitter.com/brucejesusmovie

www.youtube.com/newjesusmovie

www.tangle.com/newjesusmovie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruce Marchiano is an actor, author, international speaker, and the founder of Marchiano Ministries, a non-profit organization reaching out to people both spiritually and practically in the USA and across the world. He is best known for his joyful, passionate portrayal of Jesus in the film, The Gospel According to Matthew.

A pilgrim, an Indian, and a hick

My family isn't much for Halloween, but my sister's neighbor really likes my nieces and wanted them to dress up and go to her place. They did, and stayed in their outfits so we could see them when they came down to my parents' for the evening

Katie was a pilgrim


Allie was an Indian

And Stephanie was a "hick" - her description, not mine. :-) If you look closely, you can see a weed she is chewing on to add to the effect

The Low-down on my life

This blog post comes with a warning. If you do not personally know me, you may want to skip reading this - I don't want to scare off anyone who reads my book reviews. :-)

I had a couple people at church tonight commenting that they miss my blog posts, that all I do is book reviews now - and here I didn't think anyone read what I write. :-)

Anyway, I thought I'd give what I hope is a brief explanation - knowing me and my gift of gab, it probably will not be brief.

Sixteen months ago, I moved back to Ohio, after living in Indiana for two years. I did have a part-time job for several months, but had to quit that. Since early July, I have not had a job, and try without success to get one. Thankfully, my dad lays carpet as a side job, and has needed my help enough over the past few months that I have been able to pay my bills - car payment, car insurance, cell phone, and storage unit, where 99% of my possessions rest.

For the last sixteen months, I have been living in my parents' basement, with not much privacy, though I am thankful they have allowed me to stay.

Now that is my circumstances. Over the course of this time, I have steadily become more and more discouraged and depressed - and am actually suffering from depression - self-diagnosed, and also by friends, have not made it to a doctor yet, but my symptoms line right up with depression.

Some of the reasons:

Since I moved back, I have really felt disconnected from everyone was very close to before - as in friends - and feel disconnected from my church.

I turned 40 in May, and as stupid as it may sound, it has really affected me negatively. I hate it - I guess it is such a big milestone, and my life is so far from where I want it to be - and good grief, I'm living with my parents!

Due to financial problems over the past 5 years or so, I had to file for bankruptcy - another nail in the coffin of failure.

Uh, the living with my parents - that is depressing at my age.

Largely in part to the depression, I am sure, my relationship with God is a mess. I struggle more than ever with trusting God, and believing He cares - I daily wonder if He has a plan for my life, or if have I messed it up too badly. I have a hard time praying, and it seems like nothing I pray for happens.

Life-long battles I have had, which were much abated in the two years I lived in Indiana, have come back with a vengeance.

The future scares me. For reasons I can't go into here, I will most likely never marry, yet the idea of being alone for the rest of my life terrifies me.

Filing bankruptcy may play a big part in this, but I even fear living by myself again - will I be able to afford a place of my own, pay all my bills, without getting into debt again? The last time I lived by myself is when my financial issues started snowballing.

I find myself doubting myself constantly - I wonder if I can do anything right. I really don't want to go anywhere - even church. I'd rather just stay home and not be around people. I feel like a mess.

Anyway, all of this has a major effect on my blogging - the more depressed I am, the less I blog - if it were not for the book reviews, I wouldn't be blogging at all.

So my apologies to my friends who actually want to read about what I'm thinking - and my apologies to anyone else who actually read through this. I would ask an interest in anyone's prayers who might read this. Thanks.